Morrison puts down new roots to strike happy balance

The English-born striker is primed to make his mark in Irelands European Championship qualifier on Wednesday. By Brian Doogan

Margaret Butler is waiting on the ground floor for the lift to take her to the first-floor flat she has lived in for 32 years. She is 82 and, at first, does not recognise the young man in blue jeans and fawn tracksuit top whose face is partly hidden beneath a baseball cap as he knocks on the outside door of the flat block. In two minds, she eventually decides to open it and when she realises it is Clinton Morrison she embraces him warmly, as a grandmother might greet her grandson.

“I’ve known this lad since he was a toddler kicking a ball around the landing and I’ll be watching and hoping he plays next week for Ireland against Switzerland,” she says with a Dublin accent you could cut with a knife and a clear awareness of Morrison’s movements since his departure from Wandsworth.